Coca-Cola plans to get digital ready

Coca-Cola will beef up their supply chain, technology and processes, to make the beverage brand ready for digital sellingDecember 20, 2016, 09:55 IST

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In a move that will help Coca-Cola sell its products through an online platform, the company has created a new function called Franchise Capability & Business Transformation. This is aimed at beefing up supply chain, technology and processes at its franchise bottlers to make them future ready for digital selling.

Sameer Wadhawan, currently VP, human resources at Coca-Cola India, will spearhead the function. Manu Narang Wadhwa, who joins the Coca-Cola from American Express, will take over Wadhawan's role. This will make her the first female HR head at Coca-Cola India in around 15 years.

At present, Coca-Cola operates 65 company-owned bottling plants and 35 plants that are franchisee-owned. Wadhawan, who has led the Human Resources & Shared Service function at Coca-Cola India for over six years, has had a hand in the company's retailer capability development initiatives, including Parivartan programme by Coca-Cola University.

In his new role, effective January 2017, Wadhawan will work closely with Coca-Cola's franchise bottling partners in India and South West Asia (SWA) region to build their people capability.

Coca-Cola India runs a website - Coke2Home, which delivers its products to around 15 locations across the country. As reflected by operations of online marketplaces, doorstep delivery of FMCG products has proven to be a logistical nightmare.

Increasingly, FMCG players, including Coke and PepsiCo, have been trying to gain foothold in the online space. Although India and SWA business of Coca-Cola aspires to be the fifth largest market for the company globally, Coca-Cola's growth plans in India have hit a bottleneck as sales in the third quarter (July-September) have been dragged down by rising health concerns over sugary drinks and wary consumer spending.